A Forest Shrine in Japan

In the town of Takamori-machi, in the Kumamoto Prefecture of Japan, lies a forest shrine known as Kamishikimikumano. The beautiful Shinto shrine was setting for a popular one-shot, shōjo manga written by Yuki Midorikawa called Hotarubi no Mori e (Into the Forest of Fireflies’ Light).

In the embedded Google Map below you can see the shrine is located just off of a main road in a large forested area of the town.

Photographer ageo_akaihana is a huge fan of Yuki Midorikawa’s work and wanted to visit the real-life inspiration for the film. In the gallery below you can get a sense for this beautiful place. You can find the rest of the gallery on Flickr.